Comeback stories have always been the most inspirational one in sports and the 2022 Indian Premier League (IPL) witnessed umpteen the most recent of them being that of Rajasthan Royals bowler Prasidh Krishna. With the requiring to defend 16 runs in the final over with the place in the IPL final at stake, Sanju Samson entrusted Krishna with the huge responsibility. But David Miller’s triple strikes of sixes ended Rajasthan’s hopes and subsequently left a scar in the young pacer. But three days later, he bounced back in stellar form to finish with 3 for 22 that helped Rajasthan make the final. And impressed with his exceptional show against RCB in the Qualifier 2 tie on Friday, cricket legends Kumar Sangakkara and Sachin Tendulkar hailed the RR star as a “special talent.”
Prasidh kicked of the game in style for Rajasthan as he dismissed Kohli for just 7 in the second over and later came back to dismiss their star batter Dinesh Karthik for just 6 runs before getting rid of Hasaranga for a golden duck. His 3 for 22 helped RR restrict RCB to just 157 for eight.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Sachin spoke about both the key dismissals and hailed Kohli’s one as a “fantastic delivery”.
“Prasidh dismissed Karthik, who had been batting very well down the order with a good strike rate, and followed it up with a brilliant delivery to Hasaranga. 157 wasn’t a good total at all on this surface,” he said.
“When the ball is moving only one way, it is easy to leave deliveries. However, one of the balls came back in and hit Virat on the thigh. Batters then think, ‘I can’t leave balls’. Prasidh’s follow-up delivery (wicket ball) was very good. Virat was beaten by the bounce. and the ball moved away off the wicket. That was a fantastic delivery,” he added.
RR head coach and Director of Cricket Sangakkara also as full of praise for the manner in which Krishna responded at the nets and in the match after those three sixes against Miller.
“Special mention to Prasidh,” he told Star Sports. “Sixteen to defend in the last game, three sixes by Miller, and that’s a huge dent in your confidence with just a couple of days to turn it around, and the way he responded at training, the way he was honest with me and the rest of the group about what he could do better, was really impressive to see. He’s a very special talent.”